Bernadette Mayer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Mayer) presents a thoughtful overview of the Dada movement and Gertrude Stein. She focuses primarily on methods and themes, then discusses examples of their technique.
Unfortunately, the class sounds like it gets more and more riled as she covers each artist: Duchamp, Tzara, Stein all are met by the class' apparent annoyance, or at least ennui, as though the experimental methods are "quaint" or "old-fashioned." One student makes a comment regaring one Dada concept that "masterpieces ought to be destroyed": the student replies something to the effect that we wouldn't miss much if the Dadaists had taken their own advice.
Would've been a more interesting class if Mayer had engaged the students' seeming dislike of the writers/subjects she was discussing. Stein continues to be a touchstone writer for many contemporary authors, and many of the Dadaists' methods were and are used by recent artists. Mention of Burroughs' or MacLow's cut-up/aleatory techniques maybe would have brought the topic more currency with these people? Hard to tell: 1978 was still just pre-L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, the grandchild of DADA/Steinian techniques.
Sound quality is okay, but you can't hear most of the students' questions/comments/griping, so the lecture is weighted toward's Mayer's voice.